10 Horror Movie Scenes You Didn’t Realise Were Tricking You

10. Scream - Amber's Basement Trip

Scream has always been about tricking its audience, and the filmmakers know that a good portion of modern audiences are very film literate, so of course the film attempts to subvert their expectations to keep the tension high. One particularly satisfying way it accomplishes this is by the many ‘fake Ghostfaces’ littered around scenes.

Scream’s signature killer isn’t really a difficult lad to spot - what with his bright white mask and all - but the new movie intentionally lingers on Ghostface-esque figures in the background to make you think “wait, was that him, or is my mind playing tricks on me?”

It happens with the lingering shots of the darkness in the opening, when Wes is wandering around his house, and again when Amber heads to the basement in the finale. In each of these scenes, there’s something in the background that resembles the Ghostface costume to unnerve the viewer.

This is a simple one so you can have a little bonus extra for free: From a narrative perspective the film also tricks you by having Dewey correctly guess the killer in his first scene with the group. He points to Richie and says the lovable boyfriend is always the main suspect - throwing you off the scent because why the hell would a movie spoil a twist so casually?!